Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Portugal July 2017

Renault Zoe: An increasingly common sight in Lisbon

Renault Zoe (finally!) Lives up to its full potential

EV Sales continue on the rise in Portugal, with sales in 2017 up 106% YoY to 2.062 units, and the Plug-in Share at a record 1.5%, there's good reasons to be optimistic and even hope for a 2% share by year end.

After years of underwelming performances, the Renault Zoe finally lived up to expectations, leading the market with 437 registrations, already above the yearly all-time record of the Nissan Leaf (328 units) set in 2016. And there's still four months to go...

Kudos for the local Renault importer for finally believing in its electric supermini sales potential. Of course, the 40 kWh version helped, maybe just a teeny bit...

The Second Place is in the hands wheels of its Alliance cousin, with the Nissan Leaf setting a new personal best last month(!), with 61 deliveries, a significant feat for ageing nameplate (The Leaf II is just around the corner), with Nissan now harnessing the fruits for spreading the word since the beggining, back in 2010, making the Leaf synonymous with EV in Portugal, but also due to heavy discounts, placing it almost in price parity with its ICE relative, the Pulsar.

Another popular brand is BMW, with the BMW 330e in Third Place overall, while also being the best selling PHEV, while the i3 is now #4.

This is one of the few markets where the Mercedes C350e still outsells its GLC350e SUV-relative. Blame it on company-car deals, which is also the same reason why the BMW 330e is so well placed.

The BMW 530e is proving to be a success here too, having jumped to #11 last month, thanks to a record 24 units last month, allowing it to overcome its E350e arch-rival, while at the same time becoming the best selling new model this year.

In the manufacturers ranking, thanks to a strong lineup, BMW is in the lead, with 28% share, followed by Renault (21%) and Mercedes (14%).